THE PRESIDENT: We had a really good discussion about
education, the importance of public education in America, the better
our public schools are the better the quality of life for all our
citizens. I also had a chance to listen to Minnesota
teachers, people who have dedicated their lives to making our
communities better by teaching children how to read and write, and add
and subtract; but also teaching children how to behave and how to learn
through example. I cannot thank the teachers enough.

I hope that through my words and deeds I'm able to convince people
to become a teacher, because it's such a noble profession and it's such
an important profession for America and our future. I
absolutely believe there are -- that this country can achieve anything
we want. That includes making sure every child can read, and
every child has got a hopeful future because he or she has gotten a
great public school education.

So I want to thank you all very much. I'm really looking
forward to speaking to your school. Thanks for the
hospitality. Thank you all very much for serving our country
by being a -- by being such good teachers.

Let me answer a few questions, then --

Q Mr. President, will you need to increase
the U.S. troop presence in Afghanistan, or delay an expansion of the
war on terrorism beyond Afghanistan as a result of the al Qaeda
resurgence --

THE PRESIDENT: Well, first of all, we've always known al
Qaeda exists in Afghanistan. And from the beginning of this,
I have cautioned the American people that this is going to take a
while, that it's going to take a while to rout out al Qaeda wherever it
tries to hide. The American people understand that.

And as you well know, over the weekend we've started an operation
against a significant nest of al Qaeda fighters. These are
people that if they were to escape, could conceivably harm the United
States again. And, therefore, we're going to hunt them down
wherever they try to hide.

And I am so proud of the men and women who wear our
uniform. I appreciate the efforts of our coalition to chase
down al Qaeda, to bring them to justice. I'm obviously
saddened by the loss of life. All America is saddened when
one of our soldiers loses life.

On the other hand, I think most Americans, and I hope these parents
and loved ones understand, the cause is important, and the cause is
just. I rely -- obviously, rely upon the advice of our commanders on
the ground as to what is necessary to win. But we'll take
whatever means is necessary to protect our servicemen and
women. And we'll win this battle. And we'll keep
battling al Qaeda wherever we find them.

In terms of the overall scope, the international scope, I have
always said that sometimes the American people will see us -- see our
military in action, and sometimes they won't. But we will
keep the pressure on al Qaeda. Our country is still under
threat, and so long as our country is under threat, this great nation
will hunt down those who want to harm innocent Americans.

Q Mr. President, how important is it for you
to round up a lot of al Qaeda leaders in this particular battle that's
going on? And do you have any indication at all whether
Osama bin Laden might be in this area?

THE PRESIDENT: I haven't heard from him since September
-- December the 11th. He's been awfully quiet. I
don't know why. But I know he's on the run, if he's running
at all. And I know there's no cave deep enough for Osama bin
Laden.

He hit a country that he thought was weak and
feeble. And instead he found out he hit a country that is
determined to defend freedom. And that's exactly what we're
going to do. We will defend our freedoms.

And the first part of your question?

Q Do you expect to --

THE PRESIDENT: We're after any al Qaeda person.

Q Do you have any reason to believe that
there's a lot of them in this particular area?

THE PRESIDENT: I believe there are some -- and I'm not
sure how many -- enough for us to put together a significant coalition
of Afghan, American and other forces to rout them out. These
are people that have got one thing in mind: they're going to
harm innocent Afghan citizens. They want us to leave, they
want us to be soft, they want us to let down our guard. And
we're not going to do that, so long as I'm the President of the United
States.

And we've been called into action. This nation has been
called to defend history -- history has called us to defend
freedom. And we're going to do that. And you
should not be surprised that our troops will go into action in
Afghanistan again. I have said repeatedly, we are in a
dangerous phase of this war -- and as we learned much to our
horror the last couple of days, when we lost life. But,
nevertheless, it is worth it, and it is necessary, to bring these
people to justice.

If we do not, America can remain more vulnerable. If we
do not find them, then we will have missed a great opportunity to make
the world a safer place for our children and grandchildren.

Terry.

Q Mr. President, you said that one of the
calculations that al Qaeda might have had is they thought Americans
couldn't stomach the casualties.

THE PRESIDENT: Yes.

Q Do you think the American people are ready
for this?

THE PRESIDENT: I think any time somebody loses their
life, the American people will mourn, and are sad. And I
feel that way, too. On the other hand, I am just as
determined now as I was a week ago, or three months ago, to fulfil this
mission. And that is to make sure our country is safe from
further attack.

These people have made it absolutely clear -- these people being al
Qaeda -- that they want to harm America again. And we will
do everything in our power to not let them do so. And that
means chasing them down from the mountains of Afghanistan, or in Yemen,
or in the Philippines, using our vast coalition to bring these people
to justice. These are killers, they're
murderers. And I am -- my job is to protect America and
support our military during this historic times. And that's
exactly what I'm going to do.

Q Mr. President, the Mideast situation is --
do you believe the Mideast situation has escalated out of
control? And do you think the U.S. needs to do more to try
to seize control?

THE PRESIDENT: We are on the phone every single day,
nearly -- I say nearly; we might have missed a
day or two -- to the leaders in the Middle East, urging there to be a
-- less violence. I have said repeatedly that Chairman
Arafat must do everything he can to convince those Palestinians who
want to derail any possible peace to lay down their arms.

And the situation is terrible, any time you lose as many innocent
lives as has been lost in the Middle East. But that won't
deter us from working hard, working the issue hard. I'm
meeting with Hosni Mubarak tomorrow, and I'm sure we'll talk the Middle
East and the process to try to get to the Tenet -- the Tenet plan, laid
out by George Tenet, is the first step toward bringing the violence
down and making the area more secure, so they can eventually get into
the Mitchell process, which then eventually will lead to some kind of
settlement.

I appreciate the fact that the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia has
laid out his vision for some political solution. But the
first thing is we've got to reduce the violence in order to be able to
get the discussion started. And so we're spending a lot of
time trying to get the people of that region to stop killing each
other.